Sport Northland’s Active Workplace programme has been working alongside Croft Poles over the past 12 months with workplace wellness. Human Resource/Production Manager Felice Croft has, and continues to be a key driver in maintaining workplace wellness. This has been achieved by initiatives based on what matters to the staff, and has led to a wellness programme very much ingrained and valued by its staff.

Areas of focus for the staff at Croft Poles have included nutrition, activity, staff recognition, health checks (with contracted nurses), literacy training and educational opportunities.

A nutritional and educational initiative in the workplace included an interactive discussion on healthy eating options, cheap eats and good eating behaviours. Croft Poles management were proactive with backing up healthy eating by contacting the local Food Collective who are now on board delivering fresh fruit and vegetables weekly.  The service began with seven staff, and now caters for fresh vegetable/fruit deliveries weekly for 14 staff.  The Food Collective supplies fresh fruit and vegetables at a reasonable cost for staff and families.

Fortnightly breakfasts were the brain child of Felice held on Friday’s providing a healthy eating spread and included the opportunity for all staff, who are shift workers. These breakfasts are a standard feature at Croft Poles with Felice explaining “it’s actually really easy to put out a few breakfast options and the boys do the rest”.

Activity has been an on-going focus for the team ranging from individual activities/sports, to fun touch games, in house boot camps and participation in the Sport Northland Run/walk series.  In one of the events, just on 25 staff and their families participated, well up from the previous year as more whanau came on board to join the fun.

Overall, Croft Poles continue to produce great on going opportunities for staff in workplace wellness with good achievements, outcomes and participation.  “As time progresses I have no doubt Felice and the team will keep workplace wellness a priority for staff with ROI (return on investment) statistics already showing a 10-15% reduction in sick days, good staff retention, happier staff and increased team productivity” highlights Sharon Adams, Sport Northland’s Active Workplace Coordinator.